When Coach Zhao made such a bold substitution, Leicester City's Coach Shakespeare couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Coach Zhao's magical effectiveness in on-the-spot commanding and substitutions had recently become well-known, and Coach Shakespeare couldn't possibly be unaware of it.
However, he couldn't immediately grasp Coach Zhao's intentions, and secondly, he didn't have many available players, so the room for adjustment was not large.
In fact, this is also a common problem for small and medium-sized clubs; the strength gap between starting players and substitutes is generally quite large, and many times they can only rely on one lineup to play.
And once they encounter multi-front battles or double-game weeks, the worst-case scenario is injuries to key players, which can cause great trouble for such small teams.
Even Sunderland is still like this now!
Although Coach Zhao often makes magical substitutions, in reality, it's always the same few people being swapped, as he only has so many cards in his hand.
Therefore, Coach Shakespeare, not having fully understood what Coach Zhao was doing, naturally wouldn't act rashly.
Of course, cautious as he was, he still stood up and went to the sidelines, telling his players to drop back a bit.
Not only Drinkwater and Andy King in the middle, but also Albrighton and Mahrez on both flanks, all had to actively come back to protect the defense.
After all, time was running out, and Leicester City was still leading by one goal!
If they could maintain this score until the final whistle, they would defeat Sunderland and secure a valuable three points!
Such three points could very well ensure their survival in the league ahead of schedule!
Under the support of this belief, although the Leicester City players had been defending for the entire match and were indeed very tired, they still forced themselves to stay alert and fight with all their might!
But their two center-backs, Morgan and Huth, soon discovered that their main marking target, Anichebe, had suddenly disappeared.
He had actually dropped back!
When Sunderland was clearly about to launch a major attack, this tall striker surprisingly often dropped back to midfield to receive the ball. What was going on?
But they didn't dare to be negligent and still pursued Anichebe relentlessly, even following him to the midfield to defend.
After all, this was the Coach's requirement: to stick tightly to the opponent's striker throughout the match!
And this was exactly what Anichebe wanted.
Coach Zhao's method for him had indeed worked!
In the next attack, Anichebe's solo performance began.
First, Larsson intercepted the ball in midfield and passed it to Anichebe, and Huth from Leicester City immediately stepped forward to press him.
Anichebe, however, executed a strong turn, leaving Huth behind.
Morgan, who was providing cover four or five meters behind Huth, rushed forward to intercept upon seeing this, but at this moment, Anichebe further exploited his advantages in speed and technique.
The big black player simply nudged the ball forward, shaking off Morgan, who turned as slowly as an aircraft carrier, and then found himself in a one-on-one situation!
With Leicester City's two center-backs drawn out, the space between their midfield and penalty area was simply too vast!
And facing goalkeeper Schmeichel, Anichebe calmly slotted the ball into the far corner to score.
"Goal!!!"
"It's Anichebe again! He scored a one-on-one goal with a brilliant individual breakthrough, helping Sunderland equalize the score!"
"This tall striker scored a last-minute winner against Manchester City, and today he's scored again. His form is truly terrifyingly good!"
"It seems that Coach Zhao Zhao's decision to put him in the starting lineup today was absolutely correct, and Anichebe has repaid Coach Zhao's trust with his excellent performance!"
On the field, Anichebe, after scoring, didn't celebrate but instead rushed into the net to retrieve the ball, then quickly returned to the halfway line and placed the ball on the kickoff spot.
The other Sunderland players did the same; they simply offered Anichebe brief congratulations and then returned to their positions, ready for kickoff.
Clearly, their goal was not a draw, but victory!
This was also what Coach Zhao Zhao had repeatedly emphasized to them before the match: they had to win!
And Coach Zhao on the sidelines remained very calm.
Even at the moment Anichebe scored, he merely waved his hand, signaling his players to maintain their offensive pressure and not relax!
This truly made Coach Shakespeare, not far away, feel uneasy.
He stood up again and shouted to the players on the field: "Drop back a bit, drop back a bit more! There's too much space in the back, center-backs, don't push up anymore!"
Coach Shakespeare's intention was now very clear: to defend to the death!
Although they had conceded an equalizer, getting one point away from home was actually an acceptable result for him.
With only about ten minutes left in the match, he didn't need his team to risk attacking again and then concede another goal.
Even striker Vardy began to frequently drop back into his own half to participate in defense!
As a result, Sunderland's attack faced greater obstacles.
Although Khazri did create a few breakthroughs on the wing after coming on, Leicester City's center-backs and defensive midfielders were very quick to provide cover, defusing dangerous situations again and again.
Time was ticking by.
Sunderland had more and more possession, but fewer and fewer threatening attacks.
Especially as the match was nearing its end and entering injury time, this made everyone begin to wonder if the match would end here?
For these two teams, a draw at Sunderland's home ground seemed acceptable to both sides.
Even at this point, Coach Zhao Zhao's expression on the sidelines still looked very relaxed. Could it be that even Coach Zhao felt that one point was enough?
The time on the scoreboard had already reached 89 minutes, and the fourth official on the sidelines was preparing to raise the injury time board.
Sunderland launched another attack on the field.
Khazri on the left wing began to dribble horizontally along the opponent's penalty area, seemingly preparing to cut inside and look for a shooting opportunity—this is something that inverted wingers often do.
Leicester City's right-back, Simpson, had been closely monitoring his every move, and Drinkwater also immediately returned to Simpson's front, blocking Khazri's path for an inside cut.
This wave of defense seemed solid.
Although this 25-year-old Tunisia international was very good with the ball at his feet, he was still a bit stubborn and didn't know how to adapt.
His breakthroughs like this had been neutralized several times by Leicester City in the same way, yet he was still obstinate, insisting on breaking through.
At this moment, Khazri and Simpson got closer and closer, so close that one could hear the heavy breathing of the right-back, who came from Manchester United's youth academy.
Just then, Khazri suddenly flicked the ball towards the byline, and with extreme speed, he shook off Simpson, like a nimble cheetah pouncing on its prey, rushing directly towards the byline!
This time, he was going to the byline!
Simpson was startled but still turned and chased immediately.
However, Drinkwater was now instantly left far behind; his position was originally to defend Khazri's inside cutting route, so at this moment, it was useless.
Khazri seized the initiative, took a quick step, and had already caught up with the ball, dribbling into the left side of the penalty area.
Just as Leicester City's right-back was about to force Khazri further towards the byline and the corner flag, Khazri stopped his breakthrough.
He suddenly used his right foot to gently chip the ball, sending a delicate lob pass to the vicinity of the front edge of the six-yard box.
And while Khazri was dribbling and breaking through, Anichebe in the center had already been constantly moving to get into position to receive the ball, and when the ball was passed up, he immediately jumped towards it.
At this moment, Morgan and Huth quickly stuck tightly to Anichebe, even sandwiching him from front and back, precisely to prevent this tall striker from heading the ball towards the goal!
But this time, Anichebe did not choose to shoot.
He merely flicked his head lightly, then headed the ball behind him.
There, Swedish midfielder Larsson was rushing over, and the ball landed perfectly in front of him.
Larsson shot fiercely without needing to adjust!
The ball, with lightning speed, drilled into the bottom left corner of Leicester City's goal! Schmeichel could only watch in despair!
This was a last-minute winning goal!!!